Granola, Sandwiches, Red Sauce

Breakfast- This morning we ate homemade granola and yogurt with frozen berries for my son, and grapefruit segments for my the other three of us. My granola is super easy- two cups each of walnuts, sliced almonds and oats. I made a warm, syrup-y base out of coconut/palm sugar, and coconut oil. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla and a good tablespoon or so of kosher salt. I cook it slow in the oven at about 225-250F for hours. And it lasts for a week or two depending.

Lunch was simple sandwiches for the kids; PBJ for my daughter, ham and cheese with yellow mustard and pickles for my son. Scrambled eggs, toast and a simple salad for my husband and me.

Dinner started with my version of Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce (I crush two 28 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, add one stick of butter, one whole yellow onion quartered, and a small palmful of kosher salt (we use this sauce more often than anything else in my house- it also converts wonderfully in to a tomato soup that I’m sure I’ll talk about another time). Simmer this slowly for a good while, then blend, or remove the onion and don’t blend. Not ready to use it? Throw it in fridge or freezer for another day. It will get used, trust.

I browned up four links (one pound) Italian sausage and threw it in the sauce to finish cooking. Cooked up some polenta (grits work too), added some butter and parmesan at the end and served with some broccoli raab that I sautéed with lots of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes (a couple of anchovies in the raab is also nice, but I forgot those this time). I never get tired of this meal.

I should work on taking better photos.

Tomorrow Mike is making (starting, technically) a beer. And he’s been working on making naturally leavened bread, so that’s pretty great– we’ve got a beer starter and a sourdough starter on a couple of flat surfaces around the house tonight, getting ready. Tomorrow he’ll make both bread and a naturally leavened pizza dough for homemade pizza for dinner, so there’s that to look forward to.